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Something to Watch: DVDs

In movies, Veronica Roth’s #1 best-selling novel-turned-movie Divergent holds pride of place. A lesser known film, I’ll Follow You Down, looks to be a very interesting time travel story, somewhere between Safety Not Guaranteed and π. While I don’t see anything genre coming out in TV, I do have to mention that Top Gear 21 is becoming available, since that is always a fun show to watch.

In Anime, Katsuhiro Otomo has done it again. in 1995 his anthology Memories collected the short works of a number of animator/directors who were about to take over the Anime world of their day. Here it is a generation later, and he does it again with a new crop of award winning creators in Short Peace, just as amazing as the first collection. BTW, the Japanese version of that web site has a lot more information with a better trailer set, and a lot of it is in English. If you don’t already know about Katsuhiro Otomo, his Manga creations include Domu, Akira, Batman: Black & White #4, and Hipira: The Little Vampire, while his Anime creations include Akira (yes, he got to do his own Manga as an Anime, and he did it right), Neo Tokyo, Robot Carnival, Metropolis, Steam Boy, and Mushishi. He was both screenwriter and director on everything except Metropolis (he only wrote that one), and I should probably mention that was the 2006 live action version of Mushishi. If you haven’t seen any of those, do yourself a favor and watch them all soon.

Sengoku Collection takes place in a parallel Earth where a magical battle rages for world domination. Suddenly the primary characters from both sides, generals of the Warring States period reincarnated with completely different appearances, personalities, and genders, are transported to our own version of the planet, where they have to contend with technology they don’t understand. Some adjust better than others, and one is determined to get home at any cost. Freezing: The Complete First Season is a story about Pandoras, the genetically enhanced schoolgirls with enough superhuman strength to slaughter aliens, and their Limiters, partners in the battle to save the Earth. If they don’t do serious bodily harm to each other first. This has previously been released, but this is it’s first time under the Anime Classics Funimation imprint, which means you can get it for half the previous price, and only about $6 more than their S.A.V.E. editions run.

Something to Watch: DVDs 29Jul14

There don’t seem to be any new genre movies or TV shows being released this week, although in martial arts The Protector 2 is another Thai story of combat among the elephants starring Tony Jaa. We only get one real new title in anime as well, Problem children are coming from another world, aren’t they?, about three human girls who get invited to another planet to engage in games with combat they may not survive. Sadly, that’s about it this time around, or at least all that I have found that wasn’t a re-release from years gone by.

Something to Watch: DVDs 22Jul14

In movies this week Transcendence is a story of the singularity, as the first person to upload themselves becomes in control of the web and everything connected to it. I have not seen this one yet, but as someone who wants to be uploaded I intend to, and hope it does not end too badly. In the realm of Fantasy we have Heaven Is For Real, another movie I haven’t seen and can not comment on.

In TV we have Xena: Warrior Princess – Season Five, and yes, I know this is not the first time this season has been released. But when it was originally put on the shelves it had a list price of $79.95, which means if you shopped around you might be able to find it for $59, or a used copy for $45. The new set of releases list at $26.95 when each first comes out, meaning you can find it for $19 or so, a lot more cost effective choice, and a bit less if you wait about 6 months. The other thing I prefer about the new series of releases is that they are in a single multi-disc case per season, and so take up about a third of the shelf space of the original box set with 4 or 5 normal DVD cases in it. And the rumors of a new series/movie continue, so maybe we will get a bit more of this show to enjoy.

In Anime Appleseed: Alpha is the new prequel to the other series by Masamune Shirow about what it means to be human, and where the borders of your humanity are in a war-torn cyberpunk universe. For those wondering the primary series from the author/artist on the topic is Ghost In The Shell, the title referring to the human/AI mind/spirit encased in whatever combination of organics and machinery your particular cyborg situation has you in. Appleseed is one of the best professional instances of Machinema I know of, rivaled only by the Final Fantasy franchise. And the GITS link is a really good viral site, driving everyone nutz when it first went online; have fun learning your way around it.

The Severing Crime Edge: Complete Collection is a dark fantasy about people who inherit murder weapons from their ancestors, complete with a curse that causes them to re-commit the original murders. But they don’t want to do that, and are fighting their destinies. The other anime this week isn’t exactly genre, but it is pretty amusing, right down to the title: My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU. His student adviser put him into a club that had only one member until he arrived, and the club’s mandate is to help all who come to them solve their problems. Except the problems they are asked to solve are fairly strange, and get stranger as time goes on.

Something to Watch: DVDs, 13Jul14

In movies, the animation Rio 2 is a family friendly action/adventure worth the time to check out. Just like the original feature, the new one is very heavy with musical talent, both on the vocal and instrumental levels, as is fitting for the town where it takes place. In both films the animation is integrated with the music to an extent I have hardly ever seen before. I particularly like the aerial ballet work. A Winters Tale is a romantic Fantasy that I missed at the theaters, and am looking forward to seeing on disc.

For TV, Orphan Black: Season Two is the definite winner, and I have a hard time understanding why Tatiana Maslany was not nominated for half a dozen Emmy Awards after the insanely complex series of characters she has been portraying.

In Anime, Deadman Wonderland: Complete Series is a twisted little story about the unjustly imprisoned who are forced to fight to the death for the entertainment of the public and the enrichment of the networks. Not exactly a new premise, the plot has been around since at least 1975’s Death Race 2000, and renewed with The Running Man (the 1987 film with Arnold Schwarzenegger, or the 1982 Steven King book it was based on, your choice). Also this week, Mononoke: Complete Collection is a sequel to 2006’s Samurai Horror Tales, and tells the story of a medicine seller who travels the provinces looking for the evil spirits he is charged with defeating. When he finds one, he goes through a three stage process to banish it, the final step being to wipe it out with his sword. The tale takes place during the Edo period so this is a bit confusing to the locals, since society is broken up into four classes, and only the highest class, the Samurai, are allowed to use swords. The lowest class, merchants such as the medicine seller, would never be allowed near them; and yet, here he is, heavily armed to protect his fellow breathers.

Finally this week, To Love Ru: Darkness brings season three of the battle of the royal daughters of the planet Deviluke over the fate of the human Rito Yuuki. This one is a definite romantic comedy, and when the Golden Darkness shows up with an army of possessed high school students, things get really wild.

Something to Watch: DVDs

The documentary about one of the greatest Sci-Fi movies never made, Jodorowsky’s Dune has won a boatload of awards. He lined up Salvador Dalí, Orson Welles, Mick Jagger and Gloria Swanson for the cast, he had Peter Gabriel and Pink Floyd to do the soundtrack, H. R. Giger and Jean Giraud (Mobius) were doing set and character design, and the list goes on. It would have been amazing. As near as I can tell, all the rest of the genre movies and TV coming out are reissues and re-releases.

In Anime, Sasami-san@Ganbaranai has Sasami as a hikikomori who unknowingly has the powers of a god. She attends school remotely, using her brother who is a teacher there as her remote viewing platform. Other gods get jealous of her relationship with her brother, and take actions which make her school a very strange place to be. She may actually have to leave her house to set things right! Also this week, Naruto Shippūden DVD box19 hits the shelf.

Something to Watch: DVDs, 1Jul14

Once Upon a Time in Vietnam is a surprising film, because even though Japan, China, and India all have a long history of making epic fantasy adventures, this is the first such film produced in Vietnam that I am aware of. I look forward to seeing how they did, because new sources of epic fantasy are always appreciated. Vamperifica is the story of the reincarnation of a vampire king in the body of a clueless kid, and it definitely looks like a horror/comedy to me. I have been trying to figure out just how you can reincarnate a soulless creature like a vampire, but I suppose that is what suspension of disbelief is for.

In TV Helix: Season 1 is about a team of CDC doctors who travel to a research facility in the arctic, they think to investigate a disease outbreak. Instead they end up fighting for their lives with the survival of humanity at stake, on a much bigger playing field than they thought they were getting into.

In Anime we have a couple of very strong pieces this time. A Certain Scientific Railgun S: Part One is the first half of the sequel to season 1. Mikoto discovers the stories of powerful talents being cloned are true when she runs into herself, and learns that her clones are being brutally murdered in an effort to steal their power. She vows to save her copies and destroy the project, but she will need to call in help to pull this one off. The new season is every bit as good as the original was, I have been enjoying it on the Funimation channel. Equally well done although in a completely different style, Devil Survivor 2: Complete Collection starts with various protagonists getting Death Videos on their smart phones, and watch news reports of how they died… in the next ten minutes. If they manage to figure out a way to avoid getting killed, they join the ranks of the Devil Summoners and get a demon on their cell to call up when they go under attack. The more times they avoid death, the more demons they get. Some are powerful, some are not; but the world is under attack by some very nasty creatures from another dimension, so they will need every one of them to make it through. The entire story takes place across the span of 8 days, which seems a pretty compressed timeline.

Also this week, Shakugan no Shana: Season Two is being released in a S.A.V.E. edition, which means you can pick up all 24 episodes for around $20 or so.